http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1975990.html

If you can swallow the completely implausible geological setup for this story - a desert planet with an ice core (or at least a permafrost mantle) - it's rather a good tale of the politics of a citadel society under stress, as the monsters arise both from the icy depths and from the elders' own children; it's rather effective as a body-horror story in its own right, and there are some excellent character moments for Fitz (one of the greatest of Who companions), the Doctor and even Compassion. But I can't quite forgive the geology. ( )

It might seem a tad harsh but this book is my benchmark for poor Who novels. It's plodding, the prose is lifeless, but even that's more animated than the characters, including the regulars. The setting and plot are forgettably generic, and would be equally or probably more at home in the Star Trek or Stargate universe. For me all this adds up to the biggest crime in a series such as Doctor Who - a complete lack of wit, ambition, originality and therefore interest.

The one remotely amusing or interesting feature is the inadvertantly rude looking cover. I like to think the designer was as numbed by the book as I was and decided to see what he could get away with to give the reader at least some entertainment value for their cash. ( )

Fantastic monsters, fantastic setting - I have trouble with visualizing most settings in fiction but there isn't any part in here where I'm lost - which is all the more amazing considering they're written for a rather low-paid, rush-edited series. Baxendale - write more and longer! But not the horror imitations, we've already come so far from that here. On the negative side, I can't remember a single thing the companions did in this story. There were two of them, I'm sure. And they didn't turn into ancient cyborgs in this one, that comes later in the series! ( )